Briefly | Music

Friday

Portland’s bohemian Gypsy pop cabaret, Vagabond Opera, celebrates the release of a new CD today at the WOW Hall, with local bands Mood Area 52 and Aeon Now opening the show.

“Like surrealist Marcel Duchamp packing an entire life’s work into a suitcase, the ... troupe tucks the high drama of opera into the tight squeeze of the sexy cabaret,” a news release says.

“By turns sinister and seedy, sweet and nostalgic, the brainy, sultry band mashes up Eastern European folk theater and classical grandeur, hot club act and avant-garde klezmer jams, perky musicals and edgy absurdism.”

The troupe’s new CD is called “Sing for Your Lives!”

Tickets are $15 day of show, or $20 will get you into that show and the Saturday performance by the MarchFourth Marching Band.

The WOW Hall is at 291 W. Eighth Ave. The entertainment starts at 8:30 p.m.

Concert to raise funds for women’s program

The Soromundi Lesbian Chorus will perform its third annual benefit concert for the Lane Community College Women in Transition Program at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

More than 100 women singing an eclectic repertoire of music comprise Soromundi, which is in its 23rd year in the community.

Women in Transition assists single parents and other women in transition in becoming economically independent through education, training and employment.

The concert is at the Ragozzino Performance Hall at LCC, 4000 E. 30th Ave. Tickets are $12, $10 for students and seniors.

Dinner and dance in Deadwood

DEADWOOD — This month’s Third Saturday live music, dinner and dance at the Deadwood Community Center is a combination of Mardi Gras, Valentine’s Day and birthday celebration.

Michael Anderson and Friends will play R&B, funk and rock. Anderson is a versatile guitarist and singer from Coos Bay who will lead a band featuring drummer Nate Kaplan of Florence, bassist Mike Bachmann of Cottage Grove and singer Anya Lecurer of Deadwood.

A 6:30 p.m. New Orleans-style dinner includes vegetarian and meat gumbos. The music starts at 7:30 p.m., and costumes are encouraged, a news release says.

There is also a children’s Mardi Gras parade at 8 p.m.

The venue is 4.3 miles up Deadwood Creek Road from Highway 36, and a sliding-scale donation is requested at the door.

Call 541-964-5031 for information.

MarchFourth plans WOW Hall show

That Oregon Country Fair favorite, MarchFourth Marching Band, will headline a Saturday show at the WOW Hall, with Samba Já opening.

A “mobile big band spectacular” with diverse percussion, a horn section and electric bass, MarchFourth puts on a show that is both full of danceable rhythms and no shortage of humor and visual fun. The troupe includes costumed dancing beauties, acrobatic stilt walkers, unicyclists and life-sized marionettes.

“In one 90-minute set, they will take you on a journey from the swamps of Louisiana to the Gypsy camps of Eastern Europe to the African jungle by way of Brazil,” a news release says.

Showtime is 9 p.m. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door.

Concerts will benefit the Reality Kitchen

Brian Cutean, a traveling singer-songwriter based in Eugene part of the year, will play the first in a series of events to benefit the Reality Kitchen tonight at 245 Van Buren St.

Today’s concert is at 7:30 p.m. at the venue. A second show is scheduled at the same start time, same place, on Feb. 24, featuring the Eugene Peace Choir.

The Reality Kitchen’s mission is to connect people in transition with a community of resources, skills and experiences. It offers “academically based services and programs designed to nourish all learners, with and without disabilities, to grow personally, professionally, and imaginatively,” the mission statement reads.